What Are White Writers For?

“It was around this time that I first realized something nonwhite writers learn almost by default: for a fiction writer to deny that fiction is in some way political—in the sense of existing in an inherently politicized world—is not only an act of bad faith but a kind of artistic failure. How can we not, as writers, grasp that our own political existence, our own subjectivity, our citizenship, our racial and cultural identities, and the arguments of our time, are not material for our art, that these things are in some sense not all part of one ongoing conversation?”

Author: Jess Row
Published: Sep 30, 2016
Length: 8 minutes (2,089 words)

The Cobalt Pipeline

This investigation shows how small-scale “artisanal” cobalt mining in Congo fuels the industry of smartphones, laptops, and electric vehicles that rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.

Source: Washington Post
Published: Sep 30, 2016
Length: 22 minutes (5,536 words)

Irrigation Nation

How an esoteric piece of farm equipment created America’s breadbasket — and threatens to destroy it.

Published: Sep 17, 2016
Length: 15 minutes (3,989 words)

Emptiness

“Narcissists are imitators par excellence. And they do not copy the small, boring parts of selves.” An excerpt from n+1 editor Kristen Dombek’s first book, The Selfishness of Others: An Essay on the Fear of Narcissism.

Source: n+1
Published: Aug 16, 2016
Length: 6 minutes (1,526 words)

The Care and Keeping of Notebooks: A Reading List

Six stories about notebooks and note-taking from David Sax, Belle Boggs, Joan Didion, and more.

Source: Longreads
Published: Oct 3, 2016

How Massive Cuts Have Remade The Denver Post

Behind-the-scenes at an award-winning newspaper, gutted by staff cuts and figuring out how to survive with fewer resources.

Source: 5280 Magazine
Published: Sep 28, 2016
Length: 24 minutes (6,158 words)

Deep Stories

To understand why the same Middle Americans and white working class who would have voted Democratic in different decades now supported Trump and the Tea Party, a far-thinking sociologist looks beyond sociological studies and travels to Louisiana to speak to people directly. Her book is an astonishing portrait of paradox and what she calls the “deep stories” that involve more feelings than facts.

Source: The Nation
Published: Sep 28, 2016
Length: 12 minutes (3,196 words)

The City Born Great: Fiction by N.K. Jemisin

When I relax my hands and open my eyes to see Paulo striding along the bridge toward me with another goddamned cigarette between his lips, I fleetingly see him for what he is again: the sprawling thing from my dream, all sparkling spires and reeking slums and stolen rhythms made over with genteel cruelty. I know that he glimpses what I am, too, all the bright light and bluster of me. Maybe he’s always seen it, but there is admiration in his gaze now, and I like it. He comes to help support me with his shoulder, and he says, “Congratulations,” and I grin.

I live the city. It thrives and it is mine. I am its worthy avatar, and together? We will never be afraid again.

Source: Tor
Published: Sep 30, 2016
Length: 24 minutes (6,247 words)

The Novelist Disguised As a Housewife

An excerpt of Ruth Franklin’s biography of Shirley Jackson, the author of seventeen books and many short stories including “The Lottery,” the bulk of which were written while she was immersed in raising—and being influenced by—her four children.

Published: Sep 27, 2016
Length: 10 minutes (2,664 words)

How Donald Trump Set Off a Civil War Within the Right-Wing Media

The Republican nominee has divided conservative media commentators, hosts, and personalities, who either see Trump as the right candidate to shake up a corrupt establishment, or a “frightening” and “train wreck” of a choice.

Published: Sep 29, 2016
Length: 25 minutes (6,327 words)